Tag Archives: Syria

‘The Security Council has an obligation to act’, Ben Emmerson, the Special Rapporteur on the protection and promotion of human rights while countering terrorism, said in a press release on the presentation of his latest report on the gross violations committed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL) and the pressing need for accountability. ‘Given the reports of genocide, all members of the Security Council may now have a specific responsibility to take action to prevent this most serious of international crimes’, Mr. Emmerson said. (more…)

On 9 April 2015, the Secretary-General made the remarks at a press encounter on ‘the rapidly deteriorating situations in Yemen and Syria – where countless civilians are being willfully abandoned to misery’. (more…)

On 28 January, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underlined that ‘The Lebanese government and the Assad regime share responsibility for the consequences of the attacks emanating from their territories against the State of Israel,’ the Jerusalem Post reports. (more…)

On 23 January, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby stated that US troops will soon be dispatched in order to establish training sites for the Syrian opposition. He is quoted as stating that: ‘We’ve said, though, we know how to do this and we’re not going to do it just alone (…) We’re going to do it with our interagency and international partners, people who know these groups.’

Pentagon spokeswomen Elisa Smith said: ‘Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar have agreed to host training sites, and we anticipate the program to train and equip the moderate Syrian opposition will take approximately 400 U.S. trainers, with the caveat that this number could fluctuate based on course load, course requirements and other variables.’

Saying the ongoing civil war in Syria and its spillover effects continue to inflict a devastating human and humanitarian toll on neighbouring countries, John Ging, Operations Director for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, made a strong plea on behalf of the neighbouring countries Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, as well as Turkey. (more…)